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BASEBALL; Selig Denies Two Teams Will Fold

Commissioner Bud Selig had a conniption about contraction yesterday. The possibility that Major League Baseball will eliminate two teams for economic reasons has existed for the past year or so, but a Canadian newspaper reported that the decision had already been made and that the Montreal Expos and the Florida Marlins would be jettisoned after the World Series.

Selig flatly denied the report.

''I've made no decisions yet,'' Selig said by telephone from Milwaukee. ''I've been saying for a year it's a viable option. We have a lot of work to do. We have lot of questions we haven't answered yet.''

Another baseball official portrayed Selig as being angry about the report in The Windsor Star of Windsor, Ontario, and some baseball people took that reaction as confirmation that it was true. Selig acknowledged that he was upset about it but said that was because ''it's misinformation.''

''Contraction is a very complex process, even to consider it,'' he said. ''There are all kinds of things to consider -- the players association, cities, stadiums, ownership. There are a myriad of factors. It's not a simple process.''

The players association has maintained that the owners have to negotiate contraction and its effects. Donald Fehr, the union's executive director, said yesterday that he had heard nothing about plans to eliminate teams. ''We have heard nothing from them suggesting this was a viable possibility within months,'' Fehr said. ''All the schedules we have for next season are on the basis of 30 teams. If the story is accurate, if it's a front-burner item, we assume they will tell us.''

The 2002 schedule involves all 30 teams. The union has not approved it because its executive board has to approve interleague play. Changes can be made in the schedule after it is approved as long as it remains in conformity with the basic labor agreement. A reduction to 28 teams would require significant changes to the schedule.

If Selig were planning to lop off two teams and had not had his aides discuss it with the union, the union would see that as an affront and it could have an impact on negotiations to replace the agreement that expires Nov. 7.

But the commissioner apparently has not discussed contraction with the clubs either. A high-ranking executive of one club said he had heard nothing. ''Nobody has said anything to most teams,'' the executive said. ''We've all heard the same conjecture, but there's not a shared pot of information on this.''

The owners are scheduled to meet in Chicago on Nov. 6, two days after what could be the seventh game of the World Series.

If the owners act then or subsequently to eliminate teams, they would pay the owners of those teams for their franchises. It has been speculated that the owners of the teams that would most likely be eliminated, Jeffrey Loria of the Expos and John Henry of the Marlins, would become owners of other teams.

The Walt Disney Company has wanted to sell the Anaheim Angels, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have been in trouble. Speculation is that Henry could take over the Angels and Loria the Devil Rays.

If teams are eliminated, their players would be distributed to other teams through a draft. If the Marlins and the Expos were eliminated, the National League would be left with 14 teams, the same number as the American League.

Owners have considered contraction as a way of eliminating teams that are weak financially. If they were eliminated, the wealthier teams would not have to share their revenue with them.